Efficient delivery of packet data content to users of a shared last-mile access network can be achieved by proper balancing of the network traffic capacity, volume of user traffic, and the overall user quality of experience provided to the users through applications transporting traffic through the network. As traffic volumes rise and this balance is not maintained, then either the network becomes too expensive to build or users suffer poor service.
One of the growing problems faced by today's data networks (which may include wireless, wired, and/or fiber networks) is the burden placed onto these data networks as a result of large content files being streamed or otherwise delivered across these networks. “Large” media content has the signature feature of consuming significant amounts of time and network resources during its delivery to or from an end user device. Commonly, consumer access networks are designed for delivery of short bursts of data and network resource use and are not intended for long-term continuous use such as streaming media content (e.g., audio, video, and/or other types of content data). Streaming media content is widely acknowledged to be a principal challenge to network traffic engineers who try to satisfy the peak use demands of many users with limited network resources. The typical outcome of widespread streaming adoption is network congestion which often is exhibited by slow network response for all users and their applications.
During peak periods of network usage (e.g., when a large volume of media content and/or other types of data are being transmitted over the network), the ability of the network to quickly and efficiently relay data from one network system to another network system becomes severely degraded. That is, as more and more network users connect to the network to download large amounts of data, the competition for the finite amount of available network bandwidth and resources (e.g., base stations, routers, servers, databases, and so forth) invariably results in each network user experiencing degraded services (e.g., slower upload and download speeds, data delivery and streaming interruptions).